490 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



than a fifth of the total length of the fish. The anal fin had ten rays, also 

 two spines or rudimentary rays ; the abdominal and anal fins were white. 

 So extraordinarily fat was this fish, that the cleft of the mouth was distorted 

 or drawn very much down, while the snout was very like that of the genus 

 Oncorhynchus. The fin-rays and gill-covers, etc., however, convinced me 

 that it was a brown trout (S. fario), while its general appearance was 

 suggestive of some duration of residence in brackish water. The stomach 

 contained a little mucus, but I took a native minnow three inches long out 

 of its gullet. It was too much decomposed for me to examine the creca, 

 which I have observed decay sooner in hot weather than the other viscera ; 

 in fact they are very perishable. 



The yearly rate of growth in the most of the streams above recorded, 

 from 1878 to 1883, and which I cannot compare with their growth prior to 

 1878, from want of sufficient data, may be seen more readily from the fol- 

 lowing table : — 



Yearly growth of Trout, 1878 to 1883. 



lbs. 

 Oamarama . . . . . . .... . . . . 2-00 



Kakanui . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l'OO 



Waikouaiti 1*07 



Fulton's Creek 1-50 



Lovell's Creek . . . . . . . . . . . . 1*66 



Puerua 2-20 



Waiwera 1"45 



Waipalii 1-00 



Otaria 0-75 



Mimihau 1"00 



Pornahaka .. .. .. .. 1"08 



Waitaliuna 1*12 



Manulierikia 1-00 



Hayes Lake . . 3*50 



Wakatipu Lake . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-73 



Of course I do not claim more for this table than that it shows what the 

 least possible growth of the trout per annum may be. Likely in some cases 

 it is more, although it would be difficult to find any growth of trout to 

 exceed that in Hayes Lake. I cannot from exact information as yet 

 decide the interesting question of what the Hayes Lake trout fatten on ; 

 and mere inferences, even when probably correct, should not be depended 

 on. 



As to the edible qualities of the trout in these rivers, a fair proportion of 

 good eating trout can be got in most of them. The best I have partaken of 

 was a single 5 lb. female trout from the Oreti Eiver as already stated ; 

 a finer one could not be desired. Next to it I have found the Waipahi and 



